"We Were a Toothpick Factory!"

James Cash, a retired U.S.A.F one star general who flew F-4s in Vietnam has written: “I was stopped in my tracks by the decisons made by Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara. I was young and naive, but even them I knew their daily interference was wrong and would not allow us to win this thing and go home. Decisions like not allowing us to strike the enemy aircraft while still on the ground, keeping real targets off the target list, and allowing us to strike only rusted-out buildings made us basically a toothpick factory. However, the big one for me came the day I saw President Johnson on televison, forcefully lying to the American people. I’ll never forget the language, ‘I want to assure the American people that the United States of America has never, and will never, bomb or use force inside the borders of Cambodia.’ On and on he disavowed the reports that this was happening. I was amazed. Guess where I had put several leads of 750 pound bombs every day for the past five days. You guessed it, Cambodia So much for Mr. Johnson. The only question in my mind was simply, ‘Was it just Johnson or was it the methodology of a particular political party?’”

A "Firsthand Experience"

When I was in the the Air Force (1979-1983), I had the chance to talk about the Viet-Nam war with some of the older Veterans. I will share these along with your contributions.

A Recollection from Mr. X:

"I remember when we went into Diehm's Palace. We tore it apart looking for the (expletive deleted). The walls were torn down by artillery and we pissed off a lot of his friends and allies (many were shot during the attack). There was a lot of energy, like we were getting rid of some (expletive deleted) that was a tyrant to his own people. One thing we never thought about was the consequences. A lot of his connections went over to the other side. It was a no win situation from the beginning."

Mr A:

"People weren't always against the war ya know. They had parades for us in the beginning when we came home...like we were heroes. I still feel we were. We were there to stop the Communists. People forget how many atrocities these dictators committed against their own people...they were murderers and "Brain washers". The people could care less about the "government". They just wanted to work their rice paddies without being shot at. The Viet-Minh were mostly from the cities. Not that well trained. Mostly students and agitators that wanted to reunite their country. Poor suckers never new they were just cannon fodder being used by the commies."

Mrs. 1:

"We used to hide under our desks for heaven's sakes! Just in case we were bombed. I always used to wonder how a 2 inch piece of wood was going to protect us from an atom-bomb!" We were scared that we would be "hit " in some kind of surprise attack. People had "fall-out shelters" in their back yard. We couldn't afford one."

How Did it All begin?

Those that remember the "cold war" also remember the scare the United States had when:

1. China went "Red" (Communist)
2. FDR gave away Eastern Europe to the Russians.
3. Sputnik
4. The Domino Theory: The domino theory argued that United States interests would be in trouble if Viet-Nam fell into the hands of the "Communists". The belief was that all 0f the Far East would fall if we did not make a stand in Viet-Nam. This included Korea, Japan, the Philippines etc.



Viet-Nam was partitioned into North and South Viet-Nam. The South was to be controlled by the West and the North "Independent". In reality, it appears that the partition was a way to "appease" China and Russia.

Of course, treaties were made by the Communists to be broken. The French acted as "military advisors" but were forced out by the "Viet-Minh" (a supposedly local revolutionary group that claimed they wanted to "liberate" South Viet-Nam from "Colonial Imperialism" and reunify the country.

The Reality is that, South Viet-Nam was a mostly agrarian (farming) society with a few urban centers. Most of the population (90%) were "subsistence farmers" that were more worried about eating then joining any revolution. They wanted stability and were caught in the middle of a war they never welcomed nor supported. Poorly educated, politically ignorant, and mostly a tribal society, they were easily infiltrated by the Viet Minh and thus it was virtually impossible to separate a peasant from a "subversive."

With the French "bailing" and pretty much ready to give up their colonial possession; Eisenhower worried about "containing" Communism and stopping it from making any more inroads anywhere else. He decided that Viet-Nam was a U.S. interest and that South Viet-Nam could not fall. As a result, he sent in military advisers to assist the French. Eventually, the United States was left to "go it alone".

When Castro succeeded in his Communist Revolution, it appeared that the whole Western hemisphere was going Red. This made the policy of "appeasement" a non-option. Viet-Nam became a "do or die" situation. JFK walked into a "hornet's nest". He announced that he was sending additional military adviser's (15,000) to "stabilize" the South.

The Viet-Minh were soundly defeated because they were mostly idealists. Fearing the North would "fall" to the American's, they were replaced with professional soldiers from the "North that were trained by the Chinese and Russian "military advisers" and equipped with arms by the same. These professional soldiers were able to replace the "Viet-Minh and pretty much take control of the rural areas. The United States held the Urban areas and were able to pretty much control the politics by "palace coups" that took out rulers that seemed "less-committed" to the cause than they should be.

One of these was Diehm. He brought great stability to the South, but ruled with an iron hand. When Buddhist monks started lighting themselves on fire to protest his "ruthless" tactics in dealing with his political enemies, Diehm became a public relations nightmare and had to be eliminated. This was done by a combination of American Soldiers and South Viet-Namese and became a good propaganda and recruitment tool for the Viet-Cong.

Why an "Oral History"?

This Blog is Being created as a way to collect an "oral history" of those that lived during the Viet-Nam War Era. It has been a personal goal of mine since I worked on Master's degree to create just such an "oral history" of this war. We have our "Silent Majority"; Veterans; War Protestors. We have our political history and our war history.

Oral History is about the personal experiences you won't find in the Textbooks. Its about the average Joe Lunch bucket that never had a place in the textbooks. Its about the parent that lost a child in the war. The widows and the fatherless. Its about growing up in such a crazy decade that brought us both Barry Goldwater and Richard Nixon.

Please feel free to e-mail me PDrockton@aol.com with your personal experience. I guarantee you that I have no desire to sell your story or profit from the publication of it. The reward is in the wisdom that can be gained from those that lived through an event as participants.

Its about leaving a legacy that others can learn from. If this takes off, I will expand it into a web-site where people can learn a thing or two about the "old-timers". This oughta be fun!